The Lightwood Tales
by theauctor
Summary: A series of tales about the Lightwood kids: Alec Lightwood, Jace Wayland and Isabelle Lightwood. Based on the Shadowhunters TV-show.
1. Tale One

**Tale One**

"Alec-" his mother said, calling for his attention. She eyed him carefully as he looked up and was trying to locate the source of sound. She chuckled when she saw how fast his eyes darted around, desperate to find his mother. "I am here my baby kitten." She said with a smile while setting a step forward to make herself easier to find for him. Their bedroom was after all a large place and she imagined that it must seem even larger to an infant. The moment Alec had caught sight of his mother he started rushing to her with his small legs, all the while laughing wholeheartedly because of the rush of going so fast and going to his mom.

"Come here love." She said while giving him a hug. She grabbed him up and together they took place on the maroon velvet couch in front of the bed. She started stroking his hair and tried to style it a little. Again she was reminded of how lucky they were with such a beautiful child.

Alec on the other hand, was on an entirely different place with his head. He was still thinking about the book he was looking at just a moment ago and of the dog who made those funny faces. He looked his mother right in the eyes and struggled to replicate them. As far as he was concerned he had done an incredible job at copying the yellow dog. His mother however seemed to be confused at what Alec was trying to do. All she saw was him struggling really hard just to narrow his eyes a little bit. "What are you trying to do?" She questioned in baby talk. He laughed, only to continue trying to do those faces again.

She admired his eyes. Every time she was amazed at how fast his facial construction was developing. It was clear that he had her eyes and his fathers nose and her mouth but she could have sworn that his ears used to be a little bit more narrow last week. They clearly were still an almost copy of his dad's, they'd only changed so slightly that unless you looked very carefully, there was no possibility for someone to see the influence of her genes.

The sun was setting down and the sun rays were hitting the child's face as they travelled through the colored glass of the bedroom windows. Alec didn't seem to be bothered by the sun falling on him he rather enjoyed the sudden invisible warmth. From time to time, when Alec was still busy trying to make his mother laugh, his eyes were in such a position that the sun could pierce exactly through the sides of his lenses resulting in a gold and greenish circle around his pupils and it looked beautiful. Maryse could stare for hours at her son.

"What this?" Alec inquired with a smile and a cocked head as he ticked on her stomach. Maryse was surprised that he had noticed her stomach growing bigger. She didn't expect that she would have had to tell him now. "Well Alec." She put a hand on her stomach and with the other she held Alec's small hand. "Mommy is going to have another baby real soon sweetheart." She explained with a calm voice. "Baby?" Alec wondered. He stared at her belly wondering what exactly could be inside. "What is baby mommy?" Maryse smiled as she thought of a way to explain it to him. "A baby is like a child, just like you, only a lot smaller." Alec thought about it a little, he tried to comprehend how a child could be in his mother. He made a confused face, trying to construct a sentence. "Baby here?" He spoke before his confusion turned into joy when she nodded. The joy of realizing a new kid was coming whom he could play with. "Name?" He asked his mother. "I think her name is going to be Sophia." She whispered as if it were a secret. "Do you like it?" She asked. He nodded and very gently stroke her belly. Protectively. As if he knew how fragile she was.


	2. Tale Two

A peculiar kind of stomach ache woke Izzy. The subtle yet constant pain appeared to be coming from deep down. She was still laying in the bed and hoping that it was just a regular reaction from her body to all the coke she had drunk yesterday, when suddenly Elliot jumped right in front of her face. With his paws he made scratching kind of movements on her face – only without his nails ejected. The longer he continued doing so, the louder the noises became he was making. Izzy loved the feeling and Elliot seemed to be mysteriously aware of this fact. "Oh my sweet Elliot." She mumbled while hugging him and pulling the blanket over him, as if he was her baby. She stroked his soft white hair on his chest which caused him to purr. She smiled.

Her mother wouldn't allow Izzy to take her time, enjoying these little aspects of life, but Izzy liked to make the most out of everything. Besides with no other girl to play with in the institute, having a friend like Elliot was an absolute must.

She got out of bed and put on some lazy clothes. Every Saturday she got the day off so their trainer could focus solely on the boys and although she didn't want to stay behind, she appreciated the spare time for things like magazines, music, fashion and what not.

She eyed around for her hair elastic only to realize that she had been wearing it around her wrist all this time. Her eye did stumble on the new Elle issue that was laying in the back of the room and with the intent to grab it she set a step towards that direction. "But first things first." She chuckled to herself when her stomach rumbled. She headed to the kitchen down stairs.

They had cleaned everything from yesterday's birthday party and her mother had already made some coffee. She took a cup and poured in some of the black fluid that all the grownups enjoyed thoroughly. She liked it too but was not crazy about it like her parents were. When she opened the door of the refrigerator to get some milk her eyes fell instantly on the white plate with the leftovers of the cake. "Thank God." She mumbled to herself with a smirk and quickly grabbed the plate with her right hand, while with the other taking the milk. She turned around, thereby closing the door with her elbow and put the things she got on the table. With swift movements she prepared her coffee the way she liked it and grabbed a fork out the oak cupboard.

"You gonna eat all that by yourself?" A stern voice spoke. Izzy jumped and then turned around to face her mom who was standing in the door entrance. She wondered how long she had been watching her. Fortunately a faint smile appeared on her mother's features indicating that she didn't think of it as a huge deal. Normally she would but because it was Izzy's day off she probably didn't want to restrict her too much, besides, every one was still in a festive mood so that must have helped too.

"We could share." Izzy noted with a semi-enthusiastic tone.

Her mother was quick to answer. "You go ahead love, I've had my breakfast already." She cocked her head slightly and then continued. "If you won't eat that, the boys will end up fighting over that last piece anyways."

Izzy laughed a little. It was true, sometimes they could act so childishly. "Thanks mom." Izzy spoke and went to the dining room with the food in her hands.

From there she could see her brothers training in the courtyard. They were sparring and their trainer was right next to them, giving quick tips. Jace was, as always, doing quite well. He was using the blade Alec gave him yesterday as a present. The silver object was a little on the small side but it looked dangerous still. Maybe it was because of the black gemstone on the handgrip. According to dad, the black stone was obtained from a cave on the highest mountain in Idris. Thirteen shadowhunters were needed to cut the stone. The blade was made for an ancestor who was one of those thirteen shadowhunters. Through generations it passed from father to son and so it did to Alec on his thirteenth birthday. Alec however, preferred the bow and arrow and so he thought it would help Jace feel more of the family if he would give it to him on his birthday. At least that is what Alec had told Izzy a few days before Jace's birthday.

Izzy took a first bite of the cake and almost let out a soft sigh. The chocolate had become slightly harder and cold and it tasted like an entirely different cake than the one shad had yesterday. It might even have been better, Izzy wasn't sure. The chocolate had many notes of tastes and each one hit her taste senses in a unique way. She quickly continued eating from the cake. Before she knew she had eaten everything. She took a last sip of her coffee and laid back and closed her eyes to bulge out a little.

The subtle ache in her stomach had seemed to have gone away, but now it hit her again. A lot harder this time. She rushed to the bathroom and went in the toilet cabin, thinking she might let go a little. She noticed a brown stain on her underwear. She jumped and wondered how could this have happened, she didn't remember anything coming out. She started to overthink and to freak out a little. A voice deep down screamed to her saying that she was having her first period but she wasn't sure if it actually was. Her mother had told her about this a little but why was the stain brown? Se started to worry sick and her eyes started to water. She wanted her mother. Real, real bad. She didn't know how she was supposed to get her. She looked around and figured she could put a few layers of toilet paper between her and her underwear. It was better than the alternative, going out without her penties.

She rushed to her mother in her office. Without knocking she went in and looked her mother in the eyes. She couldn't cry, no way that her mother would like that. She had to swallow first before she could talk. "Mom... C-can you come?" She asked with a hollow voice.

Her mother was surprised and before she could even be mad at her for storming in, she noticed that there was something serious going on. So she stayed calm and approached Isabelle with a hurry. "What is it?" She asked with a concerned look.

"I think I am having my first period." She said. "But I think something is wrong..." She said almost letting a tear fall. "I have a strange brown stain on my underwear and I can't even remember when it happened and it still hurts a lot." She couldn't hold the tears any longer.

She hadn't expected this, nevertheless she couldn't be more happy. She hugged Isabelle. "Come here darling." She said stroking her beautiful black hair. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. The first time it is just that way." She said, wanting to comfort her.

"Really?" She inquired when she was actually already convinced. She felt so safe in her mother's arms. Her mother's signature fragrance combined with her warmth and her words felt like they provided everything Izzy ever needed in life. She couldn't recall a moment she felt more connected with her mother.

Maryse leaned back and spoke. "Follow me." She took her hand and guided her to her bedroom. She opened the first drawer in her dress room and took out a purple package. "I bought this a long time ago, for when this moment came." She spoke and gave her the pads she had chosen carefully because of the purple decorations.

Izzy took the package from her mother. After studying it shortly, she looked her in the eyes and thanked her. "Now go put them on love." Maryse spoke with a semi-stern voice yet with an honest smile. "It's really easy and if you need, there are instructions on the inside." She said convinced that Isabelle was big enough to figure it out on her own. Izzy nodded and walked towards her room. "And when you're finished come to the kitchen." Maryse shouted after her.

Izzy opened the drawer to take out a fresh pair of underwear and went behind the changing panel. She started reading the instructions which confirmed that it was indeed really easy. She took out a pad and removed the front wrap and then the back one. She was really touched by the fact her mother knew her favorite color was purple. She hadn't thought her mother would notice, let alone care to think about it. She put the pad as instructed and made sure the wings were tightly wrapped so it wouldn't fall off when pulling her penties on. It felt soft yet uncommon at first. "Nailed it." She said with a smirk and threw her old pair of underwear on the laundry pile and got rid of one of the wraps and put the other one in her pocket. She took the package and put it way back in her first drawer. She felt happy again and it still felt funny when walking. She headed to the kitchen.

"You're back fast." Maryse said when seeing Isabelle. She knew her daughter would be able to do it without any problems. "I've made us some hot chocolate." She said handing Isabelle her cup.

Isabelle was surprised, she couldn't remember how long it had been since her mother had made her something. "Thank you." She said with the most sincere smile.

"Chocolate does us women really good." She said before taking her first sip. "I remember my mother making hot chocolate for me my first time."

Her mother never really talked about grams, Izzy found it interesting and nodded. She took a sip of the hot chocolate and she was reminded again how amazing it felt to get the taste of chocolate on her tongue. It explained why the cake taste better today than yesterday. The hot chocolate was much better though. Being with her mother this way made everything better.

Izzy put her chocolate down and took her mother's hand. She looked her in the eyes and stared a little. Shortly after she spoke "I love you mom."

Maryse was really touched by this action and couldn't actually remember the last time she had said the same to her daughter. She hugged her and whispered. "I love you too my baby kitten."


	3. Tale Three

–It is quiet here. The room, or the universe, or his head, whatever you call this dimension, it always stays quiet–

–Except in his imagination–

••

–And the colors too, there is something odd about them. They don't seem to be here at all times. As if they are being attached to objects by intent, rather than laying in the object itself, being able to be, without any _necessity_ for a conscious being of a perceiving state–

•

–Color in this realm is not in the object, it is only sometimes here, as long as it was seen–

•

–Touch has gone abnormal too. You may touch whatever you like, as long as you don't induce the feeling of touch with all your mind's power, you won't feel a thing. About smell and taste there is no need to talk about at all. Those two belonged to the realm where he came from and will go to after a few hours–

••••

– _Still here_. What was he talking about the last ti–

•••

–A girl with light hair is standing right in front of Jace. It feels as if his entire existence consists solely of her naked body. Jace looks up to get a face. He knows her, he has seen her before, at the Clave. The girl's face gets filled with color and her teal blue eyes reveal themselves to Jace. But her goldlike braids blind him the most. Suddenly the notion of his heart racing like crazy becomes known to him–

–Jace and the girl are kissing. That's all Jace sees. Although he does not see them kissing through his own eyes. He has an out of body experience, he looks at and from his own perspective. The world is still quiet–

– _Give it to me_. She says looking him in the eyes. He doesn't actually see her mouth move, he only sees her face. He just knows that she said that. His perspective turns to himself. His eyes, each a different color. He thinks yes but he doesn't say it to her–

–He is laying on the bed and the girl is going up and down on him. He doesn't feel her sliding down but he sees it. He knows that it happens and he is so turned on. It goes on and on. It seems as if he has a dark red color filter before his eyes. He notes that he is dreaming–

He wondered what was happening with him so he moved his hand to his weiner. He realized that his member was hard and pushing against his underwear. He could feel the blood pumping through it. He was getting harder and harder. It almost felt as if his member wanted to get somewhere, like his body wanted something he wasn't aware of. He felt out of control, but he enjoyed where his body was taking him. He fell to black again.

–They were still in the same position. The world appears chaotic to Jace, as if there is a war going on. While virtually nothing is changing in his sight, there is just this idea of pure chaos in his head. Though chaos is terrorizing his head, a euphoric feeling of perfection is keeping him more busy. All his engines are working, his universe explodes–

This was it. This exact moment, his dream reality intertwined with the physical world. Until this time they were separated but now, like a dragon, his dream tore his body apart. He felt poisonous, extraterrestrial. Like there were a million electric snakes racing through each and every nerve in his body. From head and toe to his dick. Every time this gulf of snakes had reached their destination he could feel his body try to push something out. Right after each push his body felt like it was being moved further down the universally ethereal matter of pure and immortal euphoria.

The first two pushes were almost identical, it was only the third one when he felt something extra coming from the electricity from his balls. They were bringing a heavy traveller with them. They went by his shaft and instead of dying, the electricity pushed something out his cock. Jace felt something fluid being shot out. Seconds after he noticed something warm being pressed on his leg by his underwear. A second electric wave was rushing towards the exit. The interval was a little longer this time, and the engines in his head were slowing down. The maroon, thick cloud that was polluting his conscience was slowly disappearing. After the second shot his body started to elevate up from it's exotically warm place. Elevate back up to the here and now. The wet spot pressing to his leg had become larger. He thought it was over but soon, a few, faint snakes rushed to get out. Jace felt that only a really small amount of the hot fluid left his body this last time.

 _Did I just come?_ Jace only just managed to think before being pulled back to black again.

"Jace." Alec spoke to his brother to wake him up. He waited for a reaction but nothing came. He looked at the clock and quickly got out of bed when he saw how late it was. "Get up, we're going to be late for breakfast." Alec said after he had thrown his pillow to Jace. Alec wasn't used to seeing Jace still being asleep after he had woken up. "C'mon man, hurry." He said with a faint eye roll when Jace had opened his eyes. He went to Jace's bed to get his pillow and started making his bed.

Jace's vision was still a little blurry when his roommate came to bet his pillow. He wondered why Alec was in such a hurry and moved up a little to check the time. _Shit. Was it so late already. Why had I slept so..._ Then it hit him. What had happened last night. He stared in front of him with glass eyes. That girl, who was she. Why her? Jace didn't understand why his brain would dream something like that about her. They hadn't even exchanged a hello with each other. Jace couldn't remember her name but he was pretty sure it was that girl from two years ago at the Clave, where they first took him after his father died. Yes, he thought she was beautiful but nothing special. He jumped at hearing Alec's voice.

Alec wanted to go but saw his brother sitting like a statue in his bed. He set a step closer. When he didn't see any difference he went up to his brother. "Jace! Are you okay?" He really started to get worried, first the sleepiness and now this...

He turned to Alec. "Yes." He said shaking it off. He didn't wanna go around and tell what had happened right away. Although he realized Alec might know more about what had happened to him last night than he did. "I had the strangest dream." Jace decided to say without much emotion.

Alec frowned, all this because of a dream? Could it be that he had that kind of dream? "What did you see?" He inquired, a faint expression of relief took over his features. Relief because it wasn't something harmful.

"I don't know." Jace said with a shrug, still kinda reluctant to pour it all out to Alec. "Have you ever had a dream where you... like..." He eyed his friend's reaction. He didn't seem to be judgmental, yet. "Did a girl?" Jace said with a frown.

Alec looked away. He exhaled and tried to suppress his smirk. "Yes." He said and swallowed. Somehow he was happy for Jace. Maybe also for himself. Himself because Jace was more like him now, older, mature. "Did you..." He nodded towards Jace's crotch. "...you know?" He tried to ask as casually as possible, not to sound too interested. His brother replied affirmatively. A smile was now more apparent on his face. "You are a real man now." He said with a nod. All the while he couldn't help but wonder who it was he had seen. Jace and Alec didn't talk a lot about girls in the first place, so Alec still needed to figure out how open he had to be with him, how open they were going to be with each other.

Jace realized that he had done the right thing by telling Alec. After he had taken a moment to realize what he had just said he smiled for the shortest second. "I need to take a shower." He spoke without much emotion and got out of bed. He froze briefly at the feeling of the cold semen on his undies again. In the mean time Alec had started to perambulate in the room, without any real goal in mind.

He was already headed towards the shower when he realized he still had to do his bed. He shrugged. He looked up when his attention was called for.

"Jace." Alec waited till he had his brother's complete attention. "What do I tell mom and dad?" He inquired. He could see Jace thinking about something else to tell them. Something different than the truth.

"Just say that I hit the showers because I still felt kinda sleepy or something." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something." Jace said. He normally wouldn't talk this definitively to Alec. But Alec needed the motivation, since he wasn't the one who would stray from the right path easily.

Alec thought about it. He didn't want to lie to his parents, but it wasn't often that Jace asked something from him. Besides, maybe it wasn't even a lie, right? He was tired after all. He nodded to Jace and stepped towards the door, still eyeing him. Jace pulled off his shirt and threw it on the pile. He noticed that Alec was still in the room. He didn't say anything and went in the bathroom. He slightly pulled the door with him but it was still not entirely closed. Alec left the room, this was getting too awkward for him.

Jace heard the door outside close, Alec must have left. He pulled down his boxers. The wet spot was much smaller than it felt like in the night. He smelled it, curious if it was much different than urine. He only needed to lift it a tad and he already sensed a distinct salty and creamlike smell. It was highly unpleasant and he quickly threw it away. He stepped inside the cabin and turned on the water. The beam was initially ice cold, he jumped back. After a few seconds the water's temperature turned to normal and he let the water come down his face. He closed his eyes. He forgot the world, he forgot the dream, he forgot his worries. It was as if he was momentarily nowhere.


	4. Tale Four

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p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Sometimes a shadowhunter has to fight without his weapon." Hodge narrowed his eyes slightly. " A down-worlder might take a hold of it during battle. So we need to make sure you will still be able to finish them off." Hodge said with an icy tone./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec had never considered this before but he understood that it was something necessary. He put away his bow and arrows and turned to Jace. He was a little shocked at the sight of him. Jace had already dropped his weapon on the ground and was ready to fight. Fight fight. He was jumping from side to side while holding his fists close to his chest in the air. His expression was dead serious, so serious it gave Alec the chills. It was so mean, so powerful, so fierce, as if his look could pierce through titanium./p  
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p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Come here." Hodge signed to the both of them. "You can do whatever you want ever you want, but except for hitting on the cross." He said with a straight face, in a low tone./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec was a little confused. Whatever they wanted? So he could go be punching on Jace's face? Alec started to feel a little anxious, he wasn't sure if he would be able to hurt Jace. Even if it was just sparring. But he knew that Jace wouldn't be having any issues. This made him wonder, how was he not going to utterly fail? Then Alex realized that this is how it's supposed to go, all parabatais need to have this training at some point. Besides if they don't prepare themselves now, they might have a much bigger problem in the future, on the field./p  
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p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jace realized that Alec wasn't going to blow the first hit. So he did. With dead precision, right underneath the left chest. His movements looked so calculated and smooth. He would make it seem easy to a regular bystander./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec witnessed the punch almost gliding through the air. His first instinct was to dismiss it with his arm but Jace clearly carried to much power with his fist. He choose to defend himself by lowering his arms like a shield. He was too late however. The impact was catastrophic. Although for a brief moment it also made him angry. He quickly thought it away. Before he could initiate his move, a fiery Jace was already clasping his arms around Alec. One around his shoulder and one around his left side./p  
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p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec braced himself for the fall, it turned out to be not as bad as he had expected. He quickly leaned up and saw that Jace hadn't fully turned to him yet so he jumped fo his legs. Alec fell on the ground. "Fuck." He let go./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec put his right arm around Jace's throat and got him into a stranglehold while lying on his back. Jace was surprised, but he was not about to lose. He got up with Alec still clasped behind him and tried to throw him over himself./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec pushed with all his body the ground and grabbed Jace from under his arm to make it impossible to be thrown on the ground completely. His defense was somewhat successful, it resulted in them both falling away from each other./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jace realized something when he came back up. Right when they were launched from each other there was a tearing sound that came from his side. Thinking it might have been his shirt he looked down. He was right. His shirt was torn from under his arm to all the way down. He sighed and gave a cold stare at Alec. Alec however didn't seem to be paying attention. With fierce Jace grabbed his shirt's collar and ripped it entirely from himself. Like a bull he jumped to Alec./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec had only just looked up because a sudden sound of something tearing to see that it was Jace who had torn his shirt off. He was startled by a shirtless Jace approaching him dangerously. He felt paralyzed, he didn't know what to do./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Using all his force, Jace hit Alec with his shoulder. For a short moment the tall boy struggled to breathe. Alec clenched his right fist and hit Jace on his left side, noticing that despite the relatively new rune, Jace felt smooth and soft still. But also warm. Jace hit Alec back on his jaw and then put his hands around his throat tearing the taller boy on the ground. He had Alec in a stranglehold while his left hand was still clenched around his throat./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec was struggling to breathe. He stared in Jace's eyes, trying to tell him that he could stop now. Alec's vision started to get smaller and Jace still hadn't seem to have lost his rage. Alec started to deliriously hit the ground while trying to shout Jace's name./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Enough." Hodge spoke before removing Jace from the other. Alec let out his brother's name that he had been trying to shout. Alec was trying to get it all together when Jace turned to him and demanded almost like a challenge "Beat that." With a faint smirk over his features./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Okay." A confident voice spoke from behind. The three men almost synchronically turned to the source of the sound. No one had expected her./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jace had beaten up Alec real bad which surprised Izzy a bit. It was true that Jace was the best soldier of them but Alec was also not bad himself. At least that's what she had always thought. Getting rid of her whip she stepped to face Jace more closely. Jace let chuckled a little at the sight of Izzy being so confident. He wasn't used to seeing her like this. Izzy narrowed her eyes and spoke then with an alluring voice. "Afraid of getting your ass kicked by your lil' sis?" She said almost teasingly before stepping to Alec. "I don't want you to get hurt." Jace spoke to her. She put her hand through his hair to get it back into the way she liked it. Jace continued. "We both know that I'm going to win so why risk it." He said with a confident smile. Alec didn't like his hair to the right but he realized it probably looked better than how it was right after the fight. While still busy with her Alec's hair she continued. "My old brother wasn't feeling well today so he wanted me to quickly handle it." She spoke playfully. "Right?" She forcefully added that not long after looking Alec in his pretty big eyes. Alec looked back at her. What was she thinking? He didn't want to break her heart but wasn't a fan of her getting beaten up by Jace either. He sighed and faintly rolled his eyes. Just not too frustrated, so Izzy knew that he wasn't going to stop her even though he didn't agree with her idea. Her precious smile took over her features and she turned back to the other man again./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Before Jace was able to say anything Hodge spoke. "Izzy you're not ready yet."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""A little confidence sensei." She said while in the midst of her sentence eyeing at Alec too. "Let me show you how ready I am."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jace shrugged and got into his position and spoke. "Okay, you asked for it." Alec at the other side looked frustrated at his sister who had gotten into position too. They did the ritual of respect and waited for Hodge's sign./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Their chakra's had only just collided and Izzy had already fired her first four punches. Straight on each still-bare shoulder, twice. So fast, like a snake. Jace tried to flex his muscles to take a little away from the impact, but he was too slow. An electric feeling rushed from his shoulders all the way to his fingertips, leaving his arms briefly paralyzed. His sister was constantly moving from side to side and her movements were smooth like his, only more snake like. He gave her a head-butt, hoping to disadvantage her as well. She shouted but it didn't stop her from pulling his head down and then kicking his feet so that he would fall down. "Fuck." Jace spoke trying to make the damage as slight as possible. He fell on his back./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Izzy moved to Jace's side who was lying on the ground and aimed to kick him near the balls with the back of her feet to shock him. It seemed like she missed the target a little going by his shout./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alec had never seen his sister on fire like this before and he was pleasantly surprised to see that his sister already on this level. It would mean that soon they could go out to missions as a team of three. "Ooh." He softly spoke when Izzy kicked his brother in the balls. He was getting mixed feelings about this. On one hand he was absolutely proud of his sister, on the other hand he felt bad for Jace's pain. At the end he was happy that his sister had initiated this fight with him. It gave Alec the opportunity to thorough enjoy the sight of his best friend./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jace could understand how he could have let this happen. He hadn't given himself entirely to this fight from the beginning guessing it wouldn't be needed for Izzy who was much younger and had far less training. At least that is what he thought. Just when he was trying to get back up from the fall he saw the back of her feet nearing his cross. No. Fucking. Way. He thought. He was lucky she wasn't wearing those new pair of high heels, he thought. Her feet partially hit his right thigh, but mostly it was right on his balls. He shocked and let out a shout, even though the kick didn't hurt that much, it was just an automatic response. An instinct, his nature. He was more so afraid of what he knew was coming. After a few seconds had past he started feeling it. This strange, gaping pain seemed to grow exponentially. Not only that, it was tricky as well. Right when Jace thought the pain had reached it's highest, it grew again, and again./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hodge waited to see whether Jace would get back up. After seconds of witnessing him trying to suppress the pain he knew that this fight was over. If a man couldn't get back up in a few seconds after being kicked in the balls, it meant it was really bad. Sometimes they were lucky. Sometimes it just didn't hurt that much. But other times it did and there was no in between. He wasn't sure what to say. Izzy had won, but not on the fair way. But, he couldn't recall speaking of any rules before she started fighting him. And that would mean she was theoretically allowed to./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She approached Hodge and her brother with a smirk. "See, a little confidence is more than enough."/p 


	5. Tale Five

"Izzy, open the damn door." Alec shouted while trying to force the door open. He started hitting the door with the side of his fist when he noticed the door adamant.

Izzy was in her room drawing her fall/winter 2006 womenswear collection. At least she was trying to. Something constantly came up. A training, a mission, a briefing, she just wanted a little time on her own. Just when she had thought to have some, her brother started knocking on the door. Well not exactly knocking, but you know... Izzy let out an audible irritated sigh and got out her bed. She unlocked her door and with a swift yet striking move she opened the door. "What?" She said and cocked her head.

Alec was a little surprised when he saw his sister so pissed off. He knew that he was being a little persistent a moment ago but she wasn't a sensitive one, at least not in this way. "Wait, first, what happened to you?" He inquired and pushed the door wider open so he could come in. He grabbed his bag and stepped inside, noting her drawing supplies on her bed. He got a glimpse of what she was drawing but couldn't exactly tell what it was.

Izzy was just saying that it was nothing much with her when her brother just walked in, like she had given him permission or anything. She realized that she couldn't do anything to change that fact so the smartest move was just to handle what he came for as smoothly as possible. "Why are you here brother?" She asked much friendlier this time.

Alec eyed at her a little suspicious but realized he was in a hurry. "You know that new jacket mom got Jace?" He inquired, knowing that she was in fact aware of it. "I kinda ruined it. Like, a lot." He said before a dry swallow. "His Versace jacket?!" Izzy spoke surprised while he was turning his bag around and letting the black leather jacket fall on the table. It had scratches and creases all over it.

"Alec." Izzy said, her voice faded into a heartbreaking silence. Still, Alec could feel that she was genuinely worried too. "I know, I know, I screwed up but for now you gotta help me." He said narrowing his big maple colored eyes.

"I don't know what to do Alec." She said with a faint shake of her head. She picked up the jacket with her right hand. Feeling the hardened leather. It had lost it's color somewhat and the first soft jacket now felt like a tree stump. It felt dead. "Can't we iron it?" Alec asked almost desperate., upon she answered. "You can't iron leather love, unfortunately." The news angered Alec a bit, although it was more of a hopeless anger, mad anger. The kind that grows from fear. Izzy suddenly realized something.

"How about we swap it with his other one." She pointed to the designer logo on the front of the jacket. "We can put this on the old one. They're both black and he put that one away anyways." A smirk appeared on her face. "Besides, you boys won't be able to tell 'm apart anyways." Izzy could compromise with this idea, it would take a while from her time, but she would be able to design and make a clothing piece, at least to some extent. Alec thought it through and he saw so many ways it could go wrong, what if he noticed it, or if he ever wanted to wear his old jacket and found out it wasn't there anymore. He looked through the window. 'Come on...' He said to himself.

Then he came with something, turning to Izzy as if he was following an invisible line with his eyes he spoke. "We buy a new one." He continued, still not looking his sister in the eyes. "We must leave now, you like shopping right?" He said more as a statement. "Yes." Her voice extinguished. She didn't know what to say. What was Alec thinking?! She was still trying to fathom how in hell Alec could offer to do something so wild, unauthorized. She had sneaked out in the past often but as far as she knew, her brother never had. "I don't know whether that's such a smart idea Alec." She said with a deeper voice. "You know how to get us out, we'll go to the store, pick it up and come back right away." He spoke easily, he had already started packing up the jacket. Izzy wanted to see this play out, something was definitely off with her brother. She agreed and they left using one of her secret passages. Alec was weirdly not freaking out over this unauthorized trip.

"So which store do we go in." Alec asked eyeing all the people in the street. "Well, in the Versace one of course." She said boosted. "Follow me." She started running, like water through the streets. So free and elegant. No one could see them anyways. Alec followed her. He almost had to use his nephilim speed to catch up to her. She was always so fast. Really fast. The wind embracing their faces, blowing on their necks. They were almost cutting the air, the smog, the filth in the air of the giant city.

Izzy stopped quite abruptly, yet just as elegantly, right in front of the Versace store. Alec was soon to follow, although his arrival was a lot less beautiful, much more wild. He almost hit the glass vitrines of the store. Izzy looked at him and chuckled a bit. The young man turned his look away. "You gotta sneak in right after someone opens that door." Izzy said pointing to the great glass entrance. Alec was still studying the door's mechanism when Izzy had already her target in sight. Well they were more of a entering means but still. "Like so." She said to steal his attention and slipped seemingly easy into the store while the door was still open after the couple left. Alec nodded to her and eyed around for an opportunity. It wasn't very busy at this time of the day. Out of boredom he studied the store. The glasses were in an arc shape at the top and they were at least 5 meters tall. Alec started wondering whether Jace had noticed their absence already, and if so, what they were gonna tell him. The brand logo was placed on each vitrine top with golden letters. Looked stylish, he thought. He checked the door again, only to see that it was open. And closing. He had distracted himself he thought while rushing through the dangerously narrow entrance using his nephilim speed.

Izzy noticed a pleasant smell in the air. The same air that was also unnaturally cold. It was the air in the store. She saw her brother looking at the complete different direction than he was supposed to. She wanted to scream but that would ruin her cover. She waved her arms. Finally he seemed to pay attention. They got reunited. "Keep focused." She said half sarcastically, half bossy. Alec got the message and he replied. "I will." She looked around for any signs. "Menswear is downstairs." Alec said pointing to the most left side of the store. They moved more slowly this time. They couldn't be making any sounds. Alec looked around all the time, trying to get a glimpse of anything black and leathery. They had arrived at the men's section of the luxury store. Alec noticed how much smaller it was than the woman's section. Izzy eyed for the sales assistants and waited for them to go away before extensively looking around. She saw that Alec had already started searching thoroughly. She started covering the other side of the level when she realized something important. The new collection had arrived. No way they were going to find last season's jackets.

Alec noticed his sister making a concerned face. He approached her and gently grabbed her arm. "What is it?" He asked while almost bowing down to reach her eye level. "Alec, that jacket was from last year's collection... They don't sell it anymore." She added, knowing he wasn't going to completely understand what it meant. Alec almost let out a sigh and eye roll but he shook it off. His determination was almost inspirational. "We'll keep looking, I mean this store is huge." He said, trying to motivate her. Izzy looked at him. Curious as to where this passion, endurance and will power came from. She wasn't used to seeing much this side of Alec. "We will." Izzy replied as she headed towards the rows more towards the back. One immediately caught her attention. It was one like she was looking for. She let her fingers go over the collar. She presumed it was lambskin, going by the softness and matt color. The smell of leather was subtle and inoffensive. It appeared to be a good doppelgänger for Jace's original but the differences might be too obvious to him. They were to her. First of all this jacket was so much thicker and bolder. Secondly, the buttons had the Versace logo engraved in them instead of being placed on top of them. And there was this very obvious difference: the zip had a gold-to-silver fade effect. It was a nice addition to the otherwise conventional leather jacket. She continued searching for another jacket but kept this one in her head. If it had to come to this one, she could maybe try to change the zip for the one on the original, or just any silver one.

Alec wasn't as lucky as his sister. All the jackets he had encountered up until now had some out of the ordinary gold decoration. But he wasn't about to give up just yet. A sales assistant had come to the leather section. She did some tweaking on the mannequins and tidied the jacket Alec had checked out moments ago. Alec studied the woman from afar. He noticed how she was trying to be as elegant as possible. As if she knew she wasn't alone in the room. Of course that wasn't actually possible but still, her dedication to staying classy was admirable. Or maybe that's just the way she was, Alec thought. Alec waited for the lady to leave the room. Something struck him. Maybe the store had put the old stuff away to the basement. Wanting to share this idea with Izzy, he immediately headed to her direction.

"Are you serious... Okay it is actually a reasonable idea but, Alec oh my God." Izzy responded confused yet in a sort of awe. She couldn't think of a time Alec broke more rules in a single day. But she had to agree that it kind of made sense. Why hadn't she thought of it, she wondered. She focused on the room beyond Alec. It didn't seem to have any doors other than the connection to the stairs. Then she remembered that the building had a store even below this one. She had noticed at the staircases. "Come on." Alec said quite statically while heading to the stairs. Apparently he had seen the 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' sign as well. They walked carefully down the stairs and held an ear for employees. They heard at least two on the basement floor. It was actually not as difficult as Izzy had expected. The stairs led to a double door without locks. Alec lured through the narrow split. The coast seemed clear so they entered the basement, trying to make as little sound as possible. This floor was much less lit and the pleasant scent like upstairs didn't seem to be hanging in the air here Izzy noted. It seemed to be just one floor, a really big one. With rows and rows of bags and clothes. Izzy felt a rush of electricity through her limbs. Everything was so beautiful and so much. She went to get a closer look of the apparel. She wondered what the store was planning to do with these past collections. Before touching anything she looked for cameras. There didn't seem to be any.

Alec went for a different section. From there he wasn't able to see his sister anymore, but he knew she would be able to manage. He jumped when suddenly hearing the sound of metal. He turned around. It were the two employees they had heard before. With a bunch of clothes on hangers in their hands they were climbing the stairs. Alec felt his heart pounding in his chest. It wasn't beating like crazy but it was notable. Strange. Alec thought. For some reason his body seemed nervous. But he didn't feel nervous. He had nothing to worry about. At least not from the people here. He scanned the rows of clothing. There seemed to be just jeans and bags. He went to Izzy's section. Thinking it would be smarter walking together to the other side of the basement, the part behind the stairs.

"Look what I've found." Izzy said with shimmering eyes while holding a pair of light yellow boots in the air. And a silky white jacket over her other arm. "These are freakin' exclusive!" The pieces were from last year's fall/winter collection and were only distributed to flagship stores with personal approval of Donatella herself. These boots, they were like the holy grail of fashion. Izzy wasn't about to just leave them here. Even if they were a size too big. She was more than content even if she could only wear them after a year or two.

Alec's faced turned a little sour. "Have you looked for the jacket." The slight worry in his tone stroke the importance of his question with a shimmering cold. "I have." Izzy responded a little lightheaded. She had looked for it but realized that she had also given herself too much into her fascination. She watched her brother telling her. "Let go of that and come look with me over there." While he pointed slightly towards the stairs they had descended from. He started moving to there and Izzy made sure to follow. Not putting back anything. The brand wouldn't go bankrupt if they missed these two. She thought.

Alec realized that they had been looking at the wrong side of the basement the entire time. No wonder they couldn't find much at the other side. Most of the menswear was over here. They both approached the row that seemed to have the most black leather clothes. Izzy looked at the row full of the leather garments. There were so many jackets. They looked all so identical but Izzy was able to see the nuances right away. She scanned each of them with her eyes. Alec had already started to look through all of them, inspecting them with his hands as well. "It's not here." Izzy said while already headed to the second row. The jacket they were looking for wasn't on that row although there were two that came really close.

Alec knew that Izzy was much better than he was at this entire fashion stuff, so without wasting any time, he followed after her. He looked at his watch. It had been almost two hours since they had left the Institute. Jace must have had noticed his siblings' absence by now, Alec thought. Izzy went through the black clothes to see if there were any more jackets. "Alec, I found it." She said with relief. "Look." She said taking the leather jacket from it's holder and holding it next to Jace's jacket. "It's the one." Alec knew it was true without doubt but he still took a quick glance before he spoke. "Good. Let's go now." He carefully put the jacket in his bag and turned towards the stairs. "How long has it been?" Izzy asked her brother. She followed after Alec. "Two hours, let's hope Jace hasn't noticed yet." He spoke whilst pushing the double doors open. The staircase was lit brightly and the pleasant smell was still in the air. Alec reached for the money in his pocket but Izzy stopped him. "We don't have time, besides these are from the old collections, they will know." She spoke as they passed the cash register. Alec nodded and continued to the exit.

Getting through the entrance was easier this time around as it was much busier. "You wanna put those in the bag too?" Alec asked pointing to the things she was holding in her hands when they were outside. It would be easier, Izzy thought, but it could possibly ruin them and she wouldn't let that happen. "I'm good. Let's go." She said before starting the sprint back to the institute. Alec was soon running next to her, it wouldn't hurt to ask, she thought. "What's the deal with this jacket. I mean I understand that you don't wanna upset Jace, but you seemed quite determined today." And with 'quite' she meant 'overly', which she also made clear in hear voice and look. Alec thought about her question. Had he been too obsessed? He had kept in mind that he had to play it a little cool and he thought he had. Apparently he was wrong. "I just wanted to clean up the mess I made." Alec said tonelessly, focusing on the road before them. Trying to hide the real reason. Izzy wasn't convinced yet but she didn't want to push it any more because there was a possibility that it was true. She just couldn't help but feel like Alec was keeping something from her.

They snuck back into the Institute and headed for their rooms. Izzy was too excited over her new stuff to help Alec with the last part of the mission. Besides, she knew that he could well handle it on his own. She closed the door behind her and got in her new yellow boots. The feeling was much like she expected it to be. Sturdy, soft and somewhat cold. Fresh cold. The good cold. She walked around a bit, realizing how good she did by getting them. They were the perfect hunting boots since running went without any issue as well. Alec on the other end had to go slowly inside their room to avoid any attention. It seemed that his brother wasn't in their room nor in the bathroom. He hid the plastic bag with the old jacket under his bed and headed for their dress room. He put the leather garment on the shiny hanger with 'Versace' engraved on it. He played with the jacket a little to make it look worn. He was careful to not overdo it. It was around that time when Alec heard the clicks of old metal, the door nod, followed by the swing of a heavy object. Alec instinctively turned around and took a random shirt out the the open drawer. The door of the dress room was closed so it was impossible to see from the outside that the lights in the small space were on. He deliriously took his shirt off to have a solid reason for being here.

Jace had expected Alec and he could do some training at the woods today but Alec seemed to be missing since the morning. After having waited and checked around for 30 minutes, give or take, he gave up on that plan and went to the training hall on his own instead. He worked on his back and stomach for a good two hours. More than he normally did in one take. But Jace didn't mind the muscle pain. The sweat was dripping down from his back by now and his six pack was strongly apparent. The way he always wanted them to be like. Throwing the shirt he had taken off earlier over his shoulders like a towel he headed to his room. Enough training for today. He thought. There were a few matters he still needed to take care of. But he was going to take a shower before anything else. He noted that the door of their room was closed. Suddenly a faint feeling of a presence reached him. He opened the door and noticed that the door to the dress room was closed. Jace slowly approached it. "Alec?" He spoke slightly louder than his normal voice. He was actually quite sure it was him, he could feel his brother. Like an armor of liquid titanium flowing through his veins. The door fell open.

Alec pushed the door gently so that it would slowly fall open. In the meantime he hastily put on the new shirt. It didn't go as smoothly as it normally did. While putting on the shirt he spoke. "Jace." He was now entirely in his shirt and saw his brother. His first indifferent expression quickly molted to a surprised one. He was alarmed. He looked at him. At his body. "Jace." He spoke again, this time reluctantly. It was almost like his name had just slipped out of his mouth, without control nor potency. Aiming to hide his impermanent internal devastation that was going on he put up his usual face. Slightly annoyed with a mix of confusion and innocence. The more he was gathering his mind back together, the more he remembered in what position he was. And that he could absolutely not let Jace be suspicious.

Jace frowned. His brother was acting rather unusual. Jace took a quick glance at his stomach to check if there was something when he saw Alec look at it for the second time. He figured Alec was just randomly looking around. Alec used to do that a lot to avoid actual eye contact, Jace had noticed. Jace chuckled and continued. "You realize that's my shirt right?" He saw one of Alec's shirts on the ground. Probably the one he was wearing before.

Alec looked at the shirt he was wearing. Realizing now why his skin was so strange to this shirt. It was Jace's satin shirt. The marine color appeared the shade of the sky under the bright dress room lights. Alec was slightly surprised but he was able to play it well. "I know. I wanted to wear it once." Alec spoke like water. His mouth was left open slightly as if he was in awe. He was actually but that wasn't the reason behind the reluctancy to unite his lips together.

Jace stared Alec in the eyes, momentarily. A faded smirk and a look of surprise were dominating his features. "So..." With a blink he turned to look out the window. He nodded and pulled his hair back with his right hand before taking a quick look around the room for his towel. As he picked the white soft textile up he got rid of the shirt around his shoulders. "Where when you this morning?" Slightly raising his eyebrows but more so when he saw Alec's autumn eyes wide like apple pies.

It wasn't that Alec had difficulties focusing on his mission here. He just knew that he could permit himself making a mistake or two because Jace wouldn't figure it out anyways. So he peaked at his brother, carefully, as every muscle on his perfectly shaped body changed little of form with every movement. Finally, after realizing he had to respond he blinked. "I..." He swallowed. "I wanted to do a morning jog through Central Park. I had a few too many churros yesterday." He said with a chuckle. It was true, he did run and it was a little through Central Park actually. Alec wasn't doing anything wrong. Right? He was solely admiring perfection, innocent admiration. He got out the dress room and gave the door behind him a push so that it would fall back again.

Jace was already headed to the bathroom door. He made a deep, confirming sound. After having done so with a nod, he opened the door. He only reached his arm because his torso was still turned to Alec. "I'm hitting the showers right now, so you can go after me." He said with a bright expression and a slightly cocked head.

He had completely forgotten that. Of course... People hit the showers after running. Alec realized. "Cool." He spoke shortly and watched from a corner of his eyes as Jace not even gave the subtlest push to the bathroom door, leaving it open. It wasn't a huge deal since he would step in the douche cabin at the end. Jace had been neglecting to close the door in it's entirety for quite a while now. It wasn't really a big deal between them, they had kinda established that. Like blood brothers, they did not have anything to hide from each other. Hence, nudity wasn't a taboo between the younger men nor a topic-of-matter. "Besides, it's not like either of us is interested." Alec recalled Jace saying jokingly when he had asked Jace about the door. If only that were true. Alec had thought back then. Over time Alec started leaving the door open too. Until now he had never peaked. He didn't want things to get worse. With the intent to keep it that way he swiftly turned away when he saw Jace pulling down his joggers. Alec contemplated saying something before he left but eventually decided to keep quiet. He opened the door to the corridor and heard the waters of the douche burst the silence. He gave a push to the door behind him and before heading to the kitchen he stopped and went through everything again and let it sink in. It seemed that his mission was completed, without mistakes. He was a little unprepared when Jace suddenly appeared but apart from the first moments he had played it quite well, he established. He felt the weight lift from his shoulders and contently left.

Jace pulled down his black joggers and threw them in the laundry hamper. He stepped inside the shower cabin and heard Alec opening the door around the same time he closed the cabin door. The midday sun caused the frosted glass of the cabin to convey a lighter tone of the black granite walls. Jace turned the water on, hot and steamy. He liked the feeling of the biting temperature of the water on his tired muscles. From the distance he heard the door closing, but only because of his heightened hearing. Something is up with Alec, Jace thought. It's probably not that big of a deal though, like a girlfriend or something. Jace stood under the beam of water, letting it hit it right on his head. He felt like nothing. Lost, nonexistent under the flow of the liquid. He started rubbing himself. With his right hand from his neck to his chest down to his sides. He poured some shower gel on his left hand and went down similar routes. Grabbing some excessive soap wth his right hand from his abs he went down to his member. He gave it a few rubs and then poured some shampoo from the blue dispenser on his hand. His sister insisted that they used this unpronounceable Japanese brand. He spread the shampoo on his hands and went through his hair with it, pulling it to the back. After having lathered his hair thoroughly he started rinsing. He did a last round of washing his body and then cut the water. He opened the douche cabin and wrapped himself in a towel. With another one he dried his hair. And rubbed the wettest areas on his torso. He headed to the dress room but felt tempted to lie down a bit when he passed his bed. So he did and fell asleep. Not in a deep sleep however. Just a little moment away which he returned from after a short thirty minutes. Jace opened his eyes and thought about what he was going to eat shortly after. For some reason he really wanted some of that strawberry rhubarb cake Robert had brought yesterday. He got up and that's when something unusual caught his eye. There was a bag under Alec's bed. Jace was able to see the bed from the side from his own so that's why he only noticed it now. He normally never payed much attention to Alec's bed but he had never seen a bag there before. Or anything else for that matter. He shrugged and walked over to the dresser. Putting on some Calvin undies and jeans he eyed for a comfortable shirt. He took the Louis v-neck from the hanger and swiftly put it on. It was a deep v-neck and slightly transparent so it made for a perfect shirt after a training. He was headed to the kitchen when his curiosity for the bag reoccurred after merely seeing Alec's bed. "Fuck it." He mumble and got the sport bag from under the bed. Putting it on Alec's bed before opening it, he noticed it was one of the bags from their dress room. He opened the zipper, only to be confronted by a black leather garment. The black wasn't charcoal black like it used to be on black leather garments, it reminded one more of the color of old car tires. He touched it with his right hand. Deep down an uncomfortable worry started bloom. The leather felt unusually rigid and was covered in creases. On some spots it was even scratched to the point that Jace could see the grey of the back of the leather. He lifted the garment and as he did, the thorns of his worry grew deeper and deeper to the point his worry had made place for sadness and confusion. It was his jacket he got from his parents his last birthday. At least, it looked like it. Because how how could it be. With the jacket still in his hand he quickly turned back to the dress room. He took the silver hanger from the section of jackets and felt slightly relieved to see his jacket there. There was still something bugging him. He smelled the jacket that he was holding in his hand. It smelled like detergent. Jace raised an eyebrow. Something really strange was going on here. He then took a sniff of the jacket on the hanger, which smelled like pure leather. Just leather. He remembered putting on some cologne the last time he had worn this jacket so this was alarming. Jace opened the zipper. A red lint with some brand tags fell hanging down. This is not my jacket. Jace realized. He looked down at the jacket in his hands. I don't know how... "But this is." He mumbled.

Alec. That was it. That's why he probably acted so weird and surprised when he saw me. He must have gone to the store this morning to get this new one. Jace realized. His disappointment melted away and joy came in it's place. Alec went through all that trouble for me. Jace smiled. He didn't really mind that it was not that exact jacket. This way the jacket had also been a present from his brother, in a way. He put the hanger back and went to return the old jacket in the bag and under Alec's bed. He chuckled to himself and went out the room. On the hallway to the kitchen he came across Alec who was probably headed to their room. Jace looked at him, in his eyes. They don't usually look each other in the eyes, and less often it is that Jace looks first. He smiled at Alec. And he literally felt Alec's heart glowing as did his. Jace broke the silence. "Got some cake left?" Alec looked down and then back while still getting out the trancelike feeling he replied with a faint nod. "Yes."


End file.
